Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1887-03-03

the cSltST uOOt Was ee<4X F1AtuSkeus
while the rusty condifi of the hasp
showed that it could no l1ecently have
been sopened. The la wall that
bounded the other side of the yard
precluded the idea Of 4 prisoner be-
ing able to scale it; . = stood for .
moment, out Of breath nth excite
ment and our recent &c, perfectly
perplexed with Scales @naccountable
disappearance. Willins. at this
juncture. began omin0 iIr to unite
his packet of cartridge and placed
them loose in his ball - ready for
use. in the eventuslity q he fugitive,
shoald We come aero declining
to surrender when ordered. Know
ing the determined character Of my
comrade, I knew that Scales life, if
he proved obdurate. would not be
worth q pins fee.
We searched the yard thoroughly.
but found no signs of our man. All
the cellar doors like the first we ex-
amined, were closed. The warehouses
referred to were principally used for
the storage of grain; but owing to the
war in progress. trade was interrupted
with the Prussian towns in the Baltic,
and little business being transacted,
the buildings had in consequence been
shut up. At last light seemed to
break upon the policeman. who ex-
claimed: "Tm blessed. sergeant. if l
don't think the cove wasn't slowed in
one of the drayman's barrels l.
This idea seemed to explain Scales
mysterious disappearance; so We
started in the direction of the main
road. and turning towards the town,
found the drayman unloading barrels
at the door of a public house. The
man. with volleys Of the choicest
Billingsgate. stoutly denied that he
had afforded shelter to the fugitive;
80. perceiving that it was useless vast
ing words on him. we again pursued
our search, scarcely knowing in what
direction to turn.
l was now in a terrible qusndary.
Trial by court martial and redu, tion to
the ranks together with possible SEN
tencs of Imprisonment for allowing
the man to escape. stared me in the
face, while imprisonment for Williams
was a certainty. My chances Of ad-
vancsment in the service would be
absolutely ruined, reflected, il I did
not recapture the man. so resolved,
when l had so much at stake. to con-
tinue the search, although ] looked
for him all night. It was no use
hunting for Scales in the principal
streets of the town, as these were pa
troled by military police, intent on
apprehending soldiers who showed the
slightest symptom of having had an
extra allowance of liquor; besides
being ruthlessly down on delinquents
who had a tunic button undone, or
the chin strap not adjusted in the reg
ulation position.
While I was mentally shaping out
a course of action, my companion
stopped and excitedly exclaimed: 81
have it now, sergeant I'll bet 10 to l
he's gone to old Nathan'sl'
I'm not sure of that" I remarked
obviously; "but at all events we'll go
and see."
Nathan was rascally old Jew. who.
though he was vigorously kept out Of
barracks, carried on with the soldiers
a brisk business in the sale of coarse,
rank, contraband tobacco. He had
"agents" in the different regiments to
further this branch of commerce and
one of his accredited representatives
in ours was Private Scales. Besides,
the old rascal, although it had never
been brought home to him, was sus-
pected of purchasing articles Of "kit"
from ne'er do wells. and supplying
ragged plain clothes to deserters in
exchange for their uniforms. We lost
no time in making our way to the
squalid alley in the slums near the
harbor where the business establish
ment of Mr.. Nathan was located and
when we reached the Jews dirty little
huckster's shop we found him weigh
ing out small quantity of condimens
resembling tsffse to q couple Of erimy
children. Pausing until the juvenile
customers had left the shop, asked
Nathan whether that afternoon he had
received a visit from Mr.. Scales.
No. sergeant; no soldier has been
here" replied the Jew. who then con-
tinued in an undertone: Can / do
business with you in some good to
bacco7'
paid no heed to the old Israelite's
statement, and decided to inspect the